Hame-fastener



UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

. ANDREWV'J. MOOORD, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

HAM E-FAST'EN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 351,788, dated November 2, 1886.

Application filed May 26, 1886. Serial No. 203,300. (No model.)

.clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same. I

This invention relates to that class of devices which are used on harness for horses tov fasten hames together, both at their upper and lower ends.

The object of this invention is to provide a hame-fastener adapted to receive and hold one.

end of a strap tightly enough to prevent the strap being lost off when not in use without the aid of rivets or threads, so that any one can readily attach such a fastener to the strap without tools, and to hold both ends of the strap very firmly when in use by means of a single non-penetrating tongue and perforated back; and to that end it consists in the construction of parts, forming a hame-fastener, hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section. of the buckle of the fastener, showing the strap in side elevation. Fig. 2 shows a modification of the buckle and the strap in side elevation, and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the buckle.

A represents the body of the buckle, having three slots, B, O, and D, through it to receive the strap G, and having ears E turned up at its sides to receivethe tongue F, and, further, having one end formed as a hook, H,whereby it may be secured to the eye of one of the hames. The said body A is made of malleable metal, so that the hook, after being inserted in the eye of the hame, may be closed together loosely by hammering, to secure the buckle as a permanent fixture of the hame. This will usually be done only at the lower end of the hames.

The modification shown at Fig. 2 dispenses with the hook H, but uses the same buckle in other "respects to hold the strap, and is better adapted for the upper fastener of nearly all styles of hames.

The end I of the strap is fixed permanently to the buckle by being passed through the slots B, O, and D in the order named, and then the opposite end, K, passed in the same direction through the slot D, where it is to be drawn tightly over the first end, I.

The buckletongue F is pivoted at M in the ears E. It has a bar, L, at one end to rest across the strap as a binder, and a lever, N, at the other end standing radially from the pivots M at right angles to a radius passing through the crossbar L.

N represents the long arm, and L the short arm, of alever, the bar N being so near to the pivots M as to be properly termed a cam or eccentric. This bar or eccentric is so located in its distance from the body A of the buckle as to bind very firmly on the strap when two thicknesses of thelatter are beneath it, and when it is closed, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings; butwhen it is open, as shown in Fig. 2, there is a wide space between the bar and body, through which thestrap may be free ly passed. \Vhen the tongue is closed, as in Fig. 1, both ends of the lever rest on the bound strap, the eccentric being past the dead-center, as it is termed in mechanical parlance, so that it naturally maintains this position when onceset, and any strain upon the strap in service has a tendency to hold it closed.

\Vhen it is desired to free the strap, you have only to turn the end of the strap backward and pull a little, when the tongue will may be replaced by any person having a new strap without the aid of tools or a' harness maker.

This hame-fastener may engage the hames by means of the hook H at one end and ,by

means of the loop in thestrap at the other end; or both ends of the loop in the strap may e11- gage the hame, as in Fig. 2.

This fastener is not necessarily limited to use upon hames, but it may be adapted for use wherever such a buckle may similarly hold two ends ofa strap.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the body A, having the ears E arranged centrally thereof, and the tongue F, comprising the frame N, having its arms pivoted at M in the said ears E, and the cross-bar L, located to one side of the plane of the said frame N, and eccentric from the pivots M, the said body having the wide slot B at one side of the line of said ears, and the two narrow slots 0 and D at the other side of the said line of cars, whereby the body of the strap when placed in the three slots, as shown, will overlap its end I and hold the same, and whereby the tongue F will rigidly hold both ends of the strap when closed upon them, as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

- ANDREV J. MCCORD.

\Vitnesses:

THos. J. KEENAN, JosEPH L. GRAHAM. 

